#peshawar

Rogan is an technique of cloth printing practiced in the Gujarat, Peshawar and Sindh regions of India and Pakistan. The word rogan has roots in both Persian and Sanskrit, meaning oil. In this craft, paint is made from boiled castor oil or linseed oil and vegetable dyes is laid down on fabric using a stylus.

The process of applying this oil based paint to fabric was developed among the Khatri community in Gujarat and the techniques of preparing and applying dyes was passed down in the family. As rogan printed cloth tended to be less expensive than other heavily embroidered garments but could still produce the illusion of embroidery, it was the wedding garment of choice for women from poorer families. The craft nearly died out in the late 20th century with the availability of cheaper and machine-made textiles. However, it is currently being revived mostly due to the efforts of the artist Abdulgafur Khatri and his family, who work tirelessly to spread awareness about Rogan art and teach it to young people, mostly young women from poor families in order to empower them by providing a means of livelihood as well as keeping the art of rogan alive.

peshawar, pakistan

Mahabat Khan Mosque, Peshawar

Two tailed narimakara. Near Peshawar, Pakistan. 1st century CE. From the museum website: This tray features a two-tailed mermaid on the top. It is thought that the empty bottom half of this tray was used to make offerings to mythical beasts to secure safe passage to the afterlife. Tokyo National Museum, TC-599.

She's very interesting, as she's an outlier in two tailed siren imagery. While she looks like a classic two tailed siren, she was found fairly far east, and early in art. She looks like a sister to Romanesque  sirens in continental Europe, but she’s a thousand years younger than them.

Like Scylla, she has a leaf skirt, and grasps her two fish tails in a gesture that goes back to the Scythian goddess and was adopted by the Romanesque siren. Her hair is in braids, and she's likely female, as she looks like she has breasts. Appearing in art related to the afterlife gives her something in common with the Etruscan Scylla, who was thought to escort souls to the afterlife.

She's not the only two tailed merperson from Pakistan. I've found a few other examples, mostly two tailed mermen, like this handsome one in the Chicago Art Institute: